NEWS ROOM

Debate in Harrisburg will soon begin in earnest to adopt a state budget for fiscal year 2015-16, and education funding will be front and center.

Debate in Harrisburg will soon begin in earnest to adopt a state budget for fiscal year 2015-16, and education funding will be front and center. Among the proposals being sought by Gov. Tom Wolf is increased funding for Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts, an initiative that recently attracted outspoken support from some unusual kindergarten bedfellows: the law enforcement community.

But increasingly, we athletes worry that the United States is winning the Olympic medal count but losing the academic medal count. In Rio, America’s 121 medals vastly outpaced second-place China. However, our children’s 2012 international academic scores ranked 35th in math and 27th in science.

According to a new report from ReadyNation, more than 170,000 positions in Pennsylvania will not be filled with in-state employees possessing the educational credentials their employers seek. Businesses spend about $188.9 million each year on retraining employees, and about 56 percent of employers expect the recruiting problem to worsen.